‘Kidnapped’ Iranian scientist in Pakistan’s US embassy

The BBC reports that a missing Iranian nuclear scientist has turned up in Pakistan’s US embassy.

Tehran has previously claimed the man was kidnapped a year ago by the CIA. Reports now say he is in the Iranian section of Pakistan’s embassy.

A spokesman from Pakistan’s Foreign Office, Abdul Basit, told the BBC that Shahram Amiri was seeking immediate repatriation to Iran.

The US has always denied involvement in Amiri’s disappearance, but Iran maintained that he was being held in the US, saying earlier this month that it has proof.

The BBC’s former correspondent in Tehran, Jon Leyne, told the broadcaster that Iran’s version of the story seems to be backed up by the events unfolding in Washington DC. But he added, “Those inclined to give the US the benefit of the doubt will point out that it is still conceivable that Amiri was persuaded, blackmailed, or even conceivably kidnapped by the Iranians themselves back into their hands.

“Either way this is a big embarrassment for the American spy agencies, who have let slip a man they had been building up as a major catch.”